Extreme Ownership: Nehemiah 9

Introduction

Parenting

One of the more frustrating responsibiltiies of parenting is dealing out consistent discipline.

I mean, not only am I tired, nor do I want to deal with the inevitable reaction of my child to the discipline I’m about to deal out… but I have to deal with the Blame Game.

It goes like this… Somebody’s crying upstairs, and words are beginning to get exchanged.

So I meander my way upstairs as a NATO Peace Keeper, and ask, “What in the world happened!?

But before i can even complete my sentence, one starts telling me what the other did, while simultaneously the other is doing the same thing just at a decible a little louder.

And all i want to do in that moment is get even louder, and now the NATO peacekeeper has gone rogue and we have anarchy.

Maybe that’s just our home… but I can’t stand the Blame Game.

Extreme Ownership

Jocko Willink, a retired Navy Seal, popular podcaster, author, and leadership instructor has written about a principle called Extreme Ownership.

According to Willink, “Extreme ownership means that you’re not going to blame anyone else or anything else when something goes wrong. You're going to take ownership of that problem.”

Now, a little caveat, I think there are limits to what we can actually take ownership of… but at the end of the day, the more we can own, instead of blame the more likely we are to grow through life instead of constantly be victimized by it.

Sin

But "Extreme Ownership” is usually not our first impulse is it.

In Geneis 12, when God asked Adam if he had eaten of the tree he said, “The woman you gave to be with me, she gave it to me...

I mean a masterclass in blame game. It wasn’t just the woman’s fault, it was that God had given Adam that woman lol.

Then God turns to Eve and says, “What is this that you’ve done?” To which she says, “The serpent deceived me!”

You see one of the consequences of our sin, is that we seek to avoid accountabilty for our sin at all costs. We avoid Extreme Ownership.

But Church, listen, one of the primary traits of the People of God is how we deal with our sin.

You’re going to sin. 1 John 1:8 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

But it’s what you do when you sin, that really shows your your commitment to God.

A committed follower of Christ doesn’t play the blame game… instead he or she takes Extreme Ownership.

Now let me be clear, Extreme Ownership doesn’t earn your forgiveness.

That was purchased on your behalf in Christ…

When Jesus said, “It is Finished… that’s what he means. The payment of sins is paid in full. Once for all time.

Forgivenss doesn’t have to be purchased again.

So Extreme Ownership doesn’t earn your standing with Christ… instead Extreme Ownership expresses your standing in Christ.

The People of God express their faith in God, by how they take Extreme Ownership of Sin.

And that’s exactly what the People of God in our text today are going to do.

They are going to take Extreme Ownership

Nehemiah 9:1–5 ESV

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

The Great Distress

First, I want us to notice their great distress.

Just 2 days after the feastal celebration of the Feast of Booths where the Joy of the Lord had been their strength, the morning that was postponed is fully resurrected and our text opens with the People of God in Great Distress

The last verse of this prayer in verse 37 says, “We are in great distress.”

They are in Great Distress, other translations record intense affliction, tribulation, agony, or misery.

And they demonstrate their distress with fasting, sackcloth, and dust on their heads.

So troubled food is unimportant.

So troubled that the normal comforts are unimportant.

So troubled, they “don’t deserve to live”

This Great Distress is demonstrated in these extreme symbols of affliction, troubled spirits, and humiliation.

And their in great distress, because for the first time in their lifetime they are coming underneathe the Word of God.

As Coleman mentioned last week in chapter 8 they heard the Word of God read and preached from early morning to midday.

And they didn’t just hear it, they understood it.

And with Open Hearts and a willingness to Obey they found the joy of the Lord to be their strength as they celebrated the Feast of Booths for the first time in 1000 years.

And only 2 days after that celebration they are hungry for more!

They have found the words of Eternal Life. And they can’t get enough.

They’ve stumbled upon the fountain of living water, and drink to the full yet remain thirsty.

The Words of God are sweeter than honey to their mouth as Psalm 119 says.

And so they have another church service.

Nehemiah 9:3 “And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day...

For 3 hours they read and preach and hear the Words of God, and

just as it is promised, it doesn’t return void.

Just as it stirred obedience and joy in chapter 8, this time it stirs heavy conviction in chapter 9.

Hebrews 4:12–13 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

And so they spend the next quarter of the day “making confession and worshipping the Lord their God.”

So the People of God are in Great Distress, and that is all because of the Great Disparity

The Great Disparity

The Great Desire

They took Extreme Ownership, but desired Mercy.

The Great Death (Conclusion)

- God took Extreme Ownership